Konnor at 10 Months

 Another month has flown by and we are hitting new milestones all the time.  

It is so fun watching this happy little fuzzball grow up.

Konnor had his first experience at the babysitter . . . other than the nursery!  I had planned to take him along to David and Gretchen's wedding, but at the last second, Mel told me to bring him on over. She lives minutes away from where the reception was and told me she'd pop him over if he got fussy.  I figured I'd get to eat dinner in peace . . but he made it the whole reception.  He liked Uncle Piet and Mel sent me this picture of them enjoying a snuggle.  It was so nice to enjoy the whole reception without worrying about a baby on the move. Thanks Aunt Mel!!

We set the Christmas tree up and Konnor of course was a big help.  It is interesting to look at the changes that happen on the bottom of the tree thanks to the youngest members of our family.

Who me??

Kade and Konnor

Snuggles with Dad while he works on the computer . . .

At ten months, Konnor:

• can walk!! (well not quite, but he can take a few consecutive steps and we will catch him walking from piece of furniture to piece of furniture. He will also walk from person to person if we encourage him. He is a little wild and does lots of face plants into the carpet, but we are all pretty proud of this accomplishment!)
• does the stairs like a pro - UP anyways. Thankfully he understands that it hurts to go down, so he will just hang out at the top of the stairs and cry till someone comes to rescue him.
• enjoys the sippy cup. He doesn't really drink much, but if I put it by his mouth, he thinks it is pretty funny and will take a few sips between smiles.
• loves clapping and will copy anyone who does. We like to sing "Clap Your Hands" for him and he tries to join in except he is usually smiling too big and watching to join.
• also walks on his knees - he reminds me of a groundhog or something.
• loves to grab onto his hair and gently pull on it when he is being cozy or nursing
• is a royal pain in the butt to change diapers and dress most of the time. He wants to roll over and get moving so we have learned to change him really speedily or on the go.
• grabs onto his food with his two fingers - the dainty way.  He still does the whole fist grab and stuff in mouth thing, but I often catch him fine tuning his motor skills with his two fingers too.
• is happiest at home. This is a bit of a strange concept to me, but it is very noticeable.
• is shy
• has the goofiest grins and the saddest pouts.  They both make me smile:)
• does not remind me of any of my other children right now. I find he looks quite different than the rest . . .
• plays pretty good on his own. He loves cars and things that move. He loves to throw things and then chase them down.
• slept through the night ONCE!! and then pretty close the next night and then back to terrible after that. Sigh.
• puts everything in his mouth -- even things that are really way too big to even consider.
• loves the dishwasher. I can't wait til he is old enough to empty it properly!!
• is still in his baby car seat. I am not looking forward to making the switch either . . but as someone said . . . it maybe does look a little odd when you carry them into the nursery in the baby car seat and then they start walking around.  Might have to make the switch soon.  Unfortunately I won't be able to do both seats for a period of time like I did with the other kids b/c we don't have any extra space in the van.
• went down for naps really well most of the month and even slept for some long stretches.  He kind of regressed on that for a while around Christmas . . . hopefully we get it back with a big more normal schedule.
• is enjoying the milder temperatures and the fact that he hasn't needed to be bundled up hardly at all. The one or two times I put a hat on him, he did not like it AT ALL!
• is growing out of all his clothes all of the sudden. Time to head down to the bins . . . 
• sticks his tongue out way too funny. It`s like he realizes he has one and is not quite sure what to do with it.
• says "Mom . . .mum mum mum mum"
• is growing up way too fast.

Getting up is easy .  . .

.  . . down is a lot trickier!

We love you!

Clash Day/Wacky Hair Day

Both schools had a clash day in the past little bit. Spirit days are always fun and this one was not too hard to carry out. (my favorite kind)

Here is Kevin. Yes this boy makes his parents proud.

Isn't he adorable?

 I think he went to school looking a little more like the picture below than the picture above. 

Apparently he does have standards . . . and this is high school afterall:)

 CCS had clash day and wacky hair day a few weeks later and it was a big hit!! 

Kylie had heard about someone who did the Christmas tree (from a different school) and wanted to try it.  It worked pretty good and wasn't too hard.

 Boys are a bit harder and I wasn't thinking very big, so this was Kade.   

They always eat lunch all together in the gym on Spirit days and then play games in the afternoon. The kids always look forward to these days and it brings a bit of cheer to their week.

November Stuff

 Another filler post  . . .

These date back to the end of October. My littlest brother Evan got married to Emily and now all of my family is married! We are super happy for both of them. It was a very nice wedding and we had a really good time.

 Karter is starting to play!  He still doesn't do it often, but once in a while he actually sits down and keeps himself busy for a while. This was one of those times, so I deemed it picture worthy:)

 My girl Ky and I.

This must be an October picture too . . Kade wanted to put an entry in the decorate your pumpkin contest at the local library and here is what he  we came up with. 

I harvested the last of my garden and came out with 30 bags of kale.

 We chased this pig .. . (over and over) . . .

. . .  and cleaned up its messes.

We decorated for Christmas a little . . .and were glad the pig only dumped them over once.  

We watched/played hockey.  

Karter has joined a group this year and is absolutely LOVING it.  He asks numerous times throughout the week if he has hockey today . . .

It's pretty cute to watch  . . . the entertainment value is more in the cuteness of the little bodies playing hockey . . not in the amazing skills being displayed.

Speaking of cuteness!!!

David, Jonathan's youngest brother got married at the end of November and Karter got to be one of the ringbearers. 

He looked forward to the wedding day for months and did super good all day.  

This was a really fun and entertaining wedding too and also completed the weddings for Jonathan's family.

Jonathan was one of the groomsmen and they were a mighty fine looking duo.

These two boys are best buds and partners in crime.  

More pictures of the cuteness of this day can be found on the photographers website here.

Konnor at 9 Months

This month can best be summarized: TEETH!  He doubled his count and it was a bit of a deal for him.  He wasn't necessarily overly grumpy, but he did not sleep well - especially during the day.  He had days when he would sleep less than an hour all day.  Considering that number, he still managed to function well and was generally happy . . but tired. He slept okay at night, but definitely woke up more then too.  But they are all through now and growing nicely and trying to catch up to the first four in order to even out his smile.  It sure is a goofy one right now . . but it makes us smile right back:)

Konnor rode his first 1km race and did smashingly. 

He loved the water at the hotel and did lots of swimming.

He also helped me harvest and cultivate my garden. He decided he didn't love that job so much. I would have preferred he be inside sleeping too . . but alas this was during his "I can't sleep" days.

This shot is primarily to show off his teethy smile. You can't hardly see the ones just coming through, but they are there!

I asked Kade to watch Konnor one night while I took a shower. He did a GREAT job!  They don't usually like to help out for that many minutes in a row, so I was proud of him.

He wanted me to take one of them both "sleeping" too.

Now you can see the teeth!

At nine months Konnor:

• has eight teeth. Four on the top. Four on the bottom. Nice and even (except they aren't :) . . .yet)
• is walking around furniture quite well and enjoys walking with help . . .though his feet still seem kind of clumsy to me when we do it.
• could probably win a crawling race. He is getting might fast  . . . which means I have to keep a close close eye or ear on him b/c he can be gone in a flash
• is eating a little bit of table food - potatoes, cream soups,spaghetti etc. Some meals work and others we just stick to yogurt, or canned baby food.
• climbs up legs all the time. It makes working in the kitchen rather difficult b/c there is a baby attached to your leg. He doesn't give up to easy either. He also climbs up random legs which is sometimes humorous to watch when he looks up.
• he is still friendly from a distance. He doesn't like strangers to get too close . . .though sometimes he surprises us with who he seems to like.  He also is very good at the shy/embarrassed look when people talk to him. 
• he has no use for the exersaucer or jolly jumper anymore.
• he loves my tupperware drawer
• loves toys with wheels.
• likes watching the kitties through the patio door
• leaves a lot of fingerprints
• loves having something in his hand. He will find an object (anything!) and carry it around for hours. If we try to take it away, he will have a big fit! It is kind of funny.
• has discovered the toilet and that it has water in it and that it splashes. He makes a beeline there anytime he is in our room. Thankfully he hasn't seemed to clue in to the other two toilets.
• likes to clap
• squeals . . . and likes the sound of it . . . and therefore does it bigger and better the next time.
• has started to climb stairs but we generally grab him away before he gets too far, b/c he WILL fall down.
• still has no interest in trying to figure out a bottle . . which means I'm still nursing an awful lot. (I don't mind . . . b/c it's our cozy time . .  . and I know the end is going to come way too fast anyway)
• grinds his teeth . . actually that seems to have stopped, but when he only had the one on the top, he did it all the time which I found so odd!
• pretty much needs an official haircut. His hair is super straight and fine so he gets some pretty crazy hair sometimes.  I feel like the other boys hair was definitely different. I think I will wait a bit longer yet though b/c the first haircut always makes them into little boys. 
• is starting to break a lot of stuff - flower pots, vases, anything he can reach on the windowsills and bang to make noise. He does make some pretty good messes too.
• is loved

These last two pictures make me smile. When we were at the hotel, I asked Jonathan to do this pose with Konnor, b/c I had this distinct picture in my head of Jonathan and Kade at the same hotel 11 years earlier.  I think there are definite resemblances, no??!!!